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I heard this story on NPR in my car the other day. I’m not necessarily for or against universal healthcare for us here in the United States. But I do know this much…the average American spends way too much of their paycheck on healthcare costs. Whenever I look at my own paystub, it’s difficult not to imagine better uses for that large deduction every pay period.

Many countries enjoy tolerate universal healthcare, and I’m sure some programs are better than others. I think the U.S. can learn from nations like Taiwan, that recognized a problem and worked together to resolve it. There are many good ideas and programs that have been implemented and are working well. Granted the U.S. is a very different nation than Taiwan – but other large nations like Canada, Germany, and the U.K have been doing this for years.

I read somewhere that the United States is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that doesn’t provide universal health care. Why is that? My own opinion is that our problem is deeply rooted in politics and large, “for-profit” healthcare companies. As long as healthcare companies are publicly-traded, for-profit entities, always focusing on the bottom line – this conflict of interest will impede any significant progress in healthcare reform.